George Fontanills

Bill Woo,  Queensland

  Posted at 11:21pm on Thursday, May 14th, 2009

Fast paced hard pitch sell. Nothing more than another scheme to fleece you of your hard earned dollars with the presumption that they will teach you. You can find all the info yourself in any good options trading books.
Try your local library then search the net. The risks were never mentioned other than not having to outlay vast amounts to buy shares, stating the obvious. Which is one and the only good point. Question time other than questions about optionetics system/program were answered with "We will show you that, or Its covered in the course". If you are not prepared to sign up then and there on the night you get ussured to door and goodbye. No more questions. Just another glossy fancy scheme. Go get a copy of George A Fontanills (he is the founder of the system )Options Course High profit and low stress trading method book from a library and you will know all about it. Do your own study research on options trading. You will learn more that way.

fau,  California

  Posted at 10:06pm on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

I missed his Calif. seminar-bought his book instead
(TRADE OPTIONS 2nd edition 2009). An interesting book with many errors( pg. 146 suggests an OTM
spread but stock is between the strikes.) Pages
150&151 Bear call spread-top pages correct-middle of pg. 150 reversed.Noticed other errors but didn't
bother to mark them.A how to book with numerous errors-stay away from these kind.

James Syraena,  United States

  Posted at 11:30am on Thursday, April 9th, 2009

Having been around for almost 20 years of trading stocks, options and futures, I can tell you this. There are no secrets that anyone will sell you to insure you make money. This is true of Optionetics or any other system seller. If you truly want to educate yourself in options trading, there are books that have everything you need to learn, either buy them or go to the library.These people didn't invent any of this!George Fontinals didn't invent the spread, or straddle. He's only marketed them like he has. Anyone who really benefited from Optionetics did so because they truly made an effort to learn. They could have done the same thing by themselves. All scams revolve around one idea, that being that the sellers have some unknown method that they will teach you, for a price! There are no short cuts and a fool and his money will be parted. You don't need to spend thousands of $$ to learn. Again invest in some books, go to the CBOE web site, there are educational videos that are free. L... read more »

Michael Blythe,  Virginia

  Posted at 5:13am on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Due to the education I received from Optionetics, I was able to alter my trading style to correspond with 2008's and early 2009's market decline. I was able to make a 50% return in the first day of trading when implementing what I learned. There are many questionable things concerning the company but the education I received allowed me to take full advantage of the recent markets.

Rooster,  Thailand

  Posted at 3:11am on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Look, most of these guys play on peoples ignorance.
Most of the stuff they teach can be found in books from reputable authors.Why pay thousands of dollars ? There are no get rich quick schemes in this world - only for these guys pushing their seminars and expensive software. If it is so good as they claim then why do they need to sell it to others and not keep it to themselves.
For those in Australia, start reading "Making Money" by Paul Cltheroe first and progress on from there into more detail ie. if it is property investment read Jan Somers , Margaret Lomas etc.
Go to the Library and read up on Options trading - it's free !!
Don't get suckered into these seminars (remember Henry Kaye and his get rich quick property investment seminars !!)

Peter Simpson,  Sydney

  Posted at 7:31pm on Monday, March 16th, 2009

I have done the optionectics 2 day seminar many times. Please beware of these people. They teach you strategies that should theoretically work but in reality they dont because the criteria for these strategies that they give you is incorrect.Eg their calander spreads with so called volatility skews have been debunked by another company.Their straddles with low implied volatility and then ride the increasing implied volatility at earnings have been debunked by another company. Also just the basic long call or put spread with 90+ days to expiration has been debunked by another company,The reason they suggest 90+ days to expiration is so it gives you time to be right. Absolute garbage.

They try to sell you profitsource and other products that can predict where stocks are likely to go by use of Elliot wave. What a load of rubbish, any floor trader will tell you its rubbish.

No one will ever learn how to be a trader from doing a basic 2 day seminar,no matter how many times you do it.... read more »

Imd,  Sarasota,Florida

  Posted at 10:26pm on Thursday, March 12th, 2009

I have been on and off with optionetics for about 10 years and I can categorically tell you that your chances of making money are very slim. Optionetics is primarily about getting you to shell out as much of your hard earned money as possible.The latest scheme is some overpriced software from Hubb Australia called Profitsource and Value gain, check out the optionetics message boards to see all the complaints with the ever present glitches.Optionetics will deceive you into 'purchasing' the software for thousands of dollars then turn around a year later and shut it down if you dont renew the data subscription on software that you thought you owned.I have yet to meet more than a handful out of hundreds who have actually made decent money out of optionetics education.98% of their students like me have a big hole in their pockets.They have set up another scheme around the suckers who buy Profitsource and Value gain called Profit strategies headed by clueless sidekick Tom Gentile to ostensib... read more »

Brian Armstrong,  Florida

  Posted at 7:16pm on Thursday, March 12th, 2009

I have taken seminars from a lot of companies, starting out with Wade Cook. Wade Cook was a total scam. The $4000 I paid for the seminar was basically someone covering the material in his book. I think it was called The Wall Street Money Machine. For the most part, all it did was tell you about covered call plays. To learn how to "research" the stock you had to take another course. I say this because I felt I was taken and became extremely cinical of trading seminars, but I kept trying. Just before my first Optionetics seminar in 2000 I lost my programming job via the dot-com bubble bursting. I showed up at the seminar with all my materials expecting a fight to get my money back. There was no fight or pressure put on me to change my mind and I got my money back within a couple of weeks. Since then I have taken a number of seminars from Optionetics and have come to know some of the instructors. I have profited nicely from techniques taught at their seminars. I didn't start o... read more »

Oscar,  Toledo, OH

  Posted at 1:52am on Saturday, February 14th, 2009

Optionetics courses are a complete waste of time and money. I will never in a million years receive a return of one tenth of what I paid for the courses. Do not under any circumstances believe that this is any more then a sham to rob you blind. George and Tom and the whole gang should be arrested and put in jail or hung from the highest tree like all the other crooks on Wall Street.

Anonymous,  Santa Rosa, CA

  Posted at 2:20am on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

I was on the inside when Optionetics started operations in CA. Let me tell you; it's all a scam. Optionetics is 4 guys: George Fontanills, Richard Cawood, Tom Gentile, and Tony Clemendor. George had a flash in the pan year on Wall Street and Richard has been exploiting it for years. Like one person said; "it's a step right up and don't be shy circus event". Richard runs the high pressure sales tent, Tom runs the seminar tent, Tony runs the internet tent, and George waits till you've spent thousands to get to his tent. Don't waist your money.

David Daniels,  Virginia Beach, Va

Posted at 7:01pm on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

I want to know if Mr. Fontanills gives speaking engagements. If he does, what are the fee's and does he supply bio information.

Anonymous,  USA

  Posted at 11:21pm on Saturday, December 20th, 2008

There is actually a lot of good basic information for the complete novice in the first paid Optionetics course. I think it is over-priced, but it is there. The class is mostly a sales presentation for software, services, and "advanced" education. Here is the kicker. I have met literally hundreds of Optionetics student/clients and only one of them will tell me that they have made more in net profits than what they paid to Optionetics for goods and services. I now trade index Iron Condors profitably (yes, even in the volatile 2008) and for directional trading I trade spot Forex with a simple trend system. No software other than basic charts, no newsletters, no advisory services.

Anonymous,  Arizona

  Posted at 11:42pm on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

I too can vouch that Optionetics is a scam. After attending their free seminar and being fooled into paying for over priced follow up classes I can honestly say that it was a waste of money. His so called instructors/trader are not traders at all but just overpaid sales people. Actual (sucessful) traders would not be teaching these classes with unrealistic rate of returns. They would be actually living the life of leisure and trading not teaching.

As for the above positive comment by Dave Black, it's obvious it was written by an Optionetics employee or Mr. Fontanills himself.

Dave Black,  San Diego

  Posted at 11:33pm on Monday, December 8th, 2008

I completely disagree, I am very happy with Fontanills company Optionetics and what he has taught me. I started with the Options Course Book and then went to a free seminar. With the money back guarantee and the ability to come back to seminars for free I have got my moneys worth over the years. I have not met Scot Lamm and dont measure a company by one guy. I have met alot of presenters and found them to be excellent.

Its easy to poke holes in others and say they are bad but perhaps it did not work for you but did for me. I could not be happier with Fontanills and Optionetics.

Anonymous,  USA

  Posted at 6:59am on Saturday, December 6th, 2008

Time doing something certainly helps especially with investing. However, after only 4 years on Wall Street at 2 major firms and 5 additional years on my own, I can honestly say I am the best I know. This is partly because of my amazing work ethic. What I have to say about Optionetics is this. It is a huge scam. You can take his Harvard MBA and other BS and flush it in the tiolet. None of that matters. What matters is this...if he really knew what he was doing he wouldn't be pimping out his overpriced dreams to broke desperate people. Instead he would be focused trading for himself. There is no way I would have a clue if I had not managed hundreds of accounts on my own. It enabled me to get really good really fast. Not everyone from the industry is so fortunate but my comitment was to become a great trader and investors instead of a great salesman. You people considering Optionetics or any other course like it need to save your money and focus on getting a real job. Otherwise, you will... read more »

Rick Ackerman,  Colorado

  Posted at 2:25pm on Saturday, October 4th, 2008

I've been an option trader for 35 years, twelve of them on the floor of a major exchange. I have also written The Striking Price for Barron's, had articles about options published in major trading magazines, and taught a course on options. To suggest, as an Optionetics instructor did at the Denver presentation I attended, that anyone can make money by applying Optionetics' amateurish methods is a brazen lie. If Optionetics can produce proof that, over time, even one student in ten has made money trading options, I will kiss Fontanills' feet and sing his praises.

Anonymous,  Location unknown

  Posted at 12:48am on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

Its a ripoff. All they want to do is sell you more financial products. They do not let you know that you need additional software or products in order to successfully use their system. Then they get you in the seminar and hit you up for $5000 to stay in the game. Their Customer Service and Technical Support is below par. Overall this is not a product that you would want to spend your hard earned money on since most of the concepts can be learned for free online.

Anonymous,  New Zealand

  Posted at 7:05pm on Sunday, September 28th, 2008

Yeah I attended an optionetics seminar in Auckland in 2004. I agree with the above review that it is fast paced and does not allow for questions to be asked during the presentation. Afterwards I remember the presenter saying, "well you guys can ask me questions all night or you can make it easy and sign up right now." When I heard that I had pretty much made up my mind that optionetics is more about selling a product as opposed to real education. I am a futures trader myself and let me tell you that it is 90% mindset and 10% in the system you trade with. Research trading mindset first and then develop your own trading system and stick to it.

Jenn Singleton,  New Zealand

  Posted at 10:00pm on Friday, September 12th, 2008

I can vouch about the intro seminar that Optionetics run. The "free 2 hour seminar" is no such thing, well it's free (if your time is free), but it's run at a lightening speed pace in order to draw you in, with catagorically no questions allowed ... it's a hard sell sales pitch - not a seminar and certainly not a training session as they advertise.
Scott Lamm was the presenter, he was obnoctious, rude and simply a over the top worst type of salesman I have had the displeasure of experiencing. I now know that the Optionetics product may be ok in content, but definately not worth the $4995 price. Be very guarded with this product. You can learn the same stuff for free from the net and books.